Air Horse: Darkening Skies

Heritage: Part 1

"I literally didn't understand a word you just said," Cloudy said with a frown.

"It's what this forest is called by the humans," Jupiter said.

Cloudy blinked at the mare. "I'm still lost."

"Simply put, humans are the rulers of all animals. They are also the reason that Luna, Solis, three others, and I searched for a new home," Jupiter said. "I'll explain it the best I can. It will take a while, so I suggest you get comfortable."

"First off all, unicorn, pegisi, and alicorns aren't normal up here," Seeing Cloudy's confusion, Jupiter quickly corrected herself, "I mean horned and air horses. Horses up here are usually colored white, black, gray, or brown, and sometimes red or blue-ish. Solis used to be a palomino and I was a bay, until we got our abilities. Luna was always white, but she's become a lot... whiter since being the moon-horse."

"As it is for Luna and Solis, Jupiter wasn't always my name. I used to be called Rose, Solis was named Peg- short for Pegasus-, and Luna never had a name. We called her Guide for a long time, since she was our guide. We changed our names years after arriving in Equus Terra. I'll explain soon," Jupiter added when Cloudy opened her mouth to question why.

"Solis was born an air horse, and his owners -most horses are owned by humans here- sent him from place to place to be studied. Humans wanted to discover why he had wings, but I doubt they figured it out, since we don't know either. He couldn't actually use his wings to fly, but they were there. The places he went to were full of smart humans who used fancy words and languages all the time."

"Languages?" Cloudy interrupted. "Is that like Aeolus understanding whuffs?"

"Sort of, but a lot more complex. Humans have many languages they use."

"Luna was more of a secret than Solis. She was born to a human who didn't want other humans to take her away and study her or...," Jupiter cocked her head, searching for the right word, "make a fuss about her. At least, Luna insists he had good intentions, but I think he was greedy and wanted her to herself."

"Luna wasn't unhappy with her life, but she wished to be free. Her human kept her hidden away from other humans, and that meant spending a lot of time alone. She started to get older, but she had no foals. Luna told me she didn't want foals, because they would be forced to live alone, as she had."

"One day, her human came out to the meadow that he had hidden her in. Then, he told Luna he wished she would have a horned foal. Luna knew in that moment that she had to escape."

"Luna, in addition to being a seer, could also grant wishes. All one had to do is say 'I wish' and whatever was said came true. As soon as the human made his wish, Luna was going to have a foal."

"But Luna is a seer. Couldn't she have seen that the human would make that wish?" Cloudy asked.

"Luna's visions were weak then. She rarely even had them. The visions did become better with time, but it took a hundred years or so."

"It was an easy matter to escape. While she may have been unhappy before, Luna had never tried to run away. She easily jumped over the fence -a wall of sorts- and was free."

"Luna was unfamiliar with the world outside her human's home, so she wandered aimlessly. She kept away from humans, but then one night she dreamed about a horse that wasn't normal, like she was. That's how she found Solis."

"Solis was eager to escape his humans, but he was kept inside a fence that he couldn't open from the inside. Luna was able to open a way from the outside for him and they ran off together."